The Centre for Science Studies at Lancaster University has extended the
deadline for applications for:
TWO 3-YEAR CASE (ESRC) PhD STUDENTSHIPS
* CO-ORDINATING CONSTRUCTION
with Bovis Construction Group - on the making of buildings in
an age of pre-fabrication and modularisation
* DEMONSTRATING BENEFITS: Evidence and Innovation
with the Dept. of the Environment, Transport, and Regions
(DETR) - on the transmission of craft knowledge across time and place
Deadline for applications: Friday, 7 June 1999
Please see attached for further details and application instructions
Further Details:
CO-ORDINATING CONSTRUCTION - with Bovis Construction Group
This research examines the nature of building construction in an age of
pre-fabrication,
pre-assembly, and modularisation. Questions to be explored include:
* the extent to which the process of construction can be standardised
when it
involves coordinating what amounts to a series of virtual organisations,
* how to negotiate site-specific challenges relating to the delivery and
supply
of materials in on-site construction
* the kinds of constraints and possibilities generated by the use of
pre-fabrication,
pre-assembly and modularisation in the construction process,
* how buildings are changed through these kinds of construction
practices.
This research studentship offers the opportunity to explore issues in science
and technology
studies in the context of Bovis Construction Group's working construction
systems. This
collaboration is designed to bring innovative research to bear on Bovis'
interest in developing
more effective management systems in the construction process.
The research can be approached from a variety of academic perspectives,
including
* management studies,
* technology and innovation studies
* science and technology studies (e.g. social studies of knowledge,
actor-network theory,
or the social construction of technology).
Applicants are encouraged to specify how their particular interests and
concerns might
contribute to the research design and outcome.
DEMONSTRATING BENEFITS: EVIDENCE AND INNOVATION
with the Dept. of Environment,Transport and the Regions (DETR)
* What is 'best practice?'
* What is the best way of working?
* Can it be written down and used to improve practice?
* Is it, indeed, possible to answer these questions? And if so, then how?
These are very important practical questions. Important to industry, important
to government,
important in the provision of social services and health care. But they are
crucial social
science questions too. Questions central to organisation theory and science
technology
and society (STS).
We're offering a unique opportunity. It is a three-year funded PhD studentship
for someone
who is interested in
* the character of expertise and knowledge,
* what counts as evidence,
* the complex relationship between tacit knowledge, practice, and written
rules,
* in how local knowledge might made general and transferred elsewhere -
or how general
rules might be adapted to local circumstances
Notorious for its reliance on practice and craft based knowledge, this has been
criticised for failing
to innovate and generalise good practice. The Department of Environment,
Transport, and the
Regions (DETR) spends about ?6 million per year on the Construction Best
Practice Programme.
The successful applicant will look at this programme, at how it works, and
about how it might work.
We don't have a strong view about the theory that might be appropriate - though
obvious candidates
include actor-network theory, the social construction of technology, or
appropriate aspects of
organisation theory, for instance to do with knowledge communities.
What will the successful applicant look like?
The answer is, he or she will be a lively person who
* wants to work in a flexible and interdisciplinary way
* has a first degree in an appropriate subject - for instance, STS,
sociology, management science
or organisational behaviour
* is interested in research grounded in both qualitative empirical
research and relevant theoretical
approaches to real-life, contemporary problems
What we're after is exciting applications - so we encourage applicants to say
how they would like to
explore the potential of the important topics of these studentships for their
PhD.
For applications and further information, please contact
Lesley Waite
Centre for Science Studies
Lancaster University
Lancaster LA1 4YT
[log in to unmask]
01524-594508
And check our web pages: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/scistud/index.html
Elizabeth Shove
Centre for Science Studies
University of Lancaster
Bowland Tower South
Lancaster
LA1 4YT
tel + 44 1524 594610
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